Eugine_Nier comments on Draft/wiki: Infinities and measuring infinite sets: A quick reference - Less Wrong

27 Post author: Sniffnoy 24 December 2010 04:52AM

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Comment author: Manfred 24 December 2010 05:41:09AM 1 point [-]

Blorst horst.

I would like it if you paired each "myth" line with an explicit "truth" line that gave the tl;dr for us, maybe even using simple language e.g.

Myth: The cardinalities of infinite sets can be compared like ordinary numbers. Reality: If the axiom of choice is false, you can have one set's cardinality be both larger and smaller than another's

(maybe even a short blurb explaining the axiom of choice's role)

I could still understand you, but it certainly helped that I'd borrowed my friend's topology book over the summer.

Rather than making a big list, some more structure and an actual conclusion to topic #1 would have helped cement things in my brain.

Since this turned out pretty long, you could actually split the topics into separate posts in a series. And with a little editing I would be all for these being top-level posts rather than discussion secion.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 24 December 2010 06:00:46AM 4 points [-]

Reality: If the axiom of choice is false, you can have one set's cardinality be both larger and smaller than another's

Actually without the axiom of choice, one set's cardinality can be neither larger nor smaller than another's.